When the new version of The National premieres on Monday, Canadians will see a retooled program that has changed in two significant ways — the show will feature a team of anchors presenting fewer, but longer, stories that have been beefed up with more in-depth analysis.

The changes signify a challenge CBC's flagship TV newscast and other nightly news broadcasters face — keeping and broadening their audience, particularly among younger news consumers, as they increasingly turn to new digital platforms to get their information.

"It is extremely difficult to win over new viewers within an existing platform, let alone an existing program," said Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the Virginia-based American Press Institute.

"It is just not entirely clear whether a TV show, an evening TV show or broadcast is going to win over younger audiences, period.

"I honestly don't know if there will ever be a central gathering place for news anymore."

'You'll somehow lose that authority'

With any major change come potential risks, including alienating the core audience, Rosenstiel said.

"You also have the risk that it will bomb, it won't work, you'll somehow lose the authority that you once had because whatever you dreamed up was missing something."

And according to Alfred Hermida, director of the University of British Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, CBC may not have done enough soul searching,

The network failed, he said, to ask the important question of whether Canadians still need a television news show at a particular time in the evening.new national set

The National is a "very well-established product and brand that young people are not watching," he said. "How do we get them to do it?"

But network executives believe The National is still relevant, that it continues to have a loyal television audience and can grow.

Which is why, they say, with the relaunch, it will become more like a brand — with National-branded stories published and airing throughout the day, on News Network and online. The show plans to beef up its digital presence with more online written content, podcasts and the introduction of a daily digital newsletter written by Jonathon Gatehouse, a former senior correspondent for Maclean's magazine.

If, for example, the newsletter is "your only touch point with The National, that's OK," said Michael Gruzuk, CBC News's senior director of content experience.

"We know people aren't all watching and coalescing around a TV set at the end of the day."

The National's expansion in digital follows similar moves by other traditional outlets. CNN, for example, recently launched a daily news show on Snapchat called The Update, following in the footsteps of NBC's own Snapchat show Stay Tuned. CNN is also behind Beme, a daily YouTube news show.

BuzzFeed has launched its popular AM to DM live show on Twitter. Meanwhile, shows such as Vice News Tonight, which feature no anchors but a lot of graphics to transition between segments, claim to have attracted viewers who never watch nightly news broadcasts. The show focuses not so much on the headlines of the day but on how those stories affect people in different communities.

'Little bit more dressed down'

"We decided to launch this show to see if it was possible to attract an audience that isn't really into [traditional nightly news]," said Arielle Duhaime-Ross, a reporter for Vice News Tonight.

"This is an experiment in many ways. We're a little bit more dressed down, We look like people who are on the street, and I think, for me, as a woman of colour who's gender non-conforming, having a person like me on TV or having other young individuals who look like a person that you would see on the street is beneficial."

As for the new National, viewers will see an updated set, complete with more screens, more visuals and an up-tempo theme. The set also includes a retro corner featuring classic radios and televisions, along with other historic news paraphernalia, such as the glasses of former National host Knowlton Nash

But the most profound change will be the introduction of four hosts, broadcasting from three cities. Adrienne Arsenault and Ian Hanomansing, both based in Toronto, Rosemary Barton in Ottawa and Andrew Chang in Vancouver will now be charged with taking viewers through the major stories of the day.

The new anchors will either go on location for stories or will be interacting with people in the field, said Caroline Harvey, executive producer of The National.

"But we won't just be saying, 'This is what happened today.'"

Fewer stories

That leads to another significant change. Harvey said The National will now be forced to make "hard choices" and pare down the number of stories served up each night.

"We're going to choose fewer stories. Those are stories we feel we can really take you deeper into," she said.

But that's not necessarily set in stone, and there might be days, she said, when there are a lot of stories that don't lend themselves to an in-depth, contextual approach.

Mostly though, it should always be possible to push a story forward and to add something special, she said.New hosts

"I would consider it not a success if, by week two, we're doing a 22-minute news cast on what happened today with 10 stories."

That's all good, in theory, says Rosenstiel, since in a digital world, people already know the headlines. And by the evening, there's a desire for more depth, context, interpretation and analysis.

The challenge, he said, is adding depth and not just empty words.

"How much analysis and interpretation can you offer a few hours later or is it just the sort of stretched out opinion-mongering you might have seen on cable at three in the afternoon" Rosenstiel said.

CBC launched its updated version of The National on Monday night, featuring four hosts, broadcasting from three cities. Adrienne Arsenault and Ian Hanomansing are based in Toronto, Rosemary Barton in Ottawa and Andrew Chang in Vancouver. The relaunch includes National-branded stories airing throughout the day on CBC News Network and online, in addition to an increased digital presence with podcasts and a daily digital newsletter penned by former Maclean’s correspondent Jonathon Gatehouse. The new set includes items paying homage to the show’s history including Peter Mansbridge’s TV and a pair of Knowlton Nash’s glasses.

Last night's run was a little better. Not sure why the four hosts are needed and surely they don't need to speak to each other on camera. Andrew Chang seems to have the cheaper set. And please cut the commercials. I'd like to see the show focus on a news style rather than a documentary style.

Not the disaster I feared. I had worried it would be co-anchors talking over each other or awkwardly doing "After you Adrienne, no after you Andrew" routines. I like the close-ups of anchors and correspondents. (Peter Mansbridge preferred to be televised from a distance which kind of matched his somewhat-removed style.) Still, it's a bit Orwellian to see those shots of huge heads, as if in mid-air, from time to time during broadcasts.

Interesting observations from the academics about conventional newshours reaching young 'uns. Maybe it's an unsolvable problem. Oh well, if this experiment fails, maybe CBC can persuade Bob Schieffer to come out of retirement and move north. Seems ratings always soared when he took over from vastly better-known anchors.

I disagree. I thought it might be not be half bad...I thought, surely anything can be better than Peter Mansbridge's annoying "lip smacking" and "chewing" sounds that sound like he's chewing on his cud (sp?) or something!

Unfortunately, for the few minutes of a broadcast that I caught, it's a complete and unmitigated trainwreck. I figured they'd actually have a rotating "anchor wheel" but stick with one anchor per night (i.e., give Adrienne Mondays & Wednesdays, Ian on Tuesdays & Fridays, Rosemary on Thursdays (with At Issue) and Andrew Chang doing Saturday & Sunday duty)...I can't believe they were stupid enough to actually have three or four anchors on set or via remote satellite feed!!! And the set...what a downgrade. It looked cheap and "low rent". Moving back to a large format rectangular desk was a positive but the lighting, the cheap Home Depot laminate flooring and the exposed stage lighting suspended from the ceiling...horrible! CBC News Network's "News Now" and Peter Armstrong's "On the Money" program, with his tiny podium-style round desk in the middle of the CBC newsroom now have the bigger, more expensive sets.

The cuts to and from anchors or from anchor to reporter are also bad.

I don't regret missing its premiere and I won't be back. CTV National News with Lisa LaFlamme is nothing better so I'm out of there, too. Global National with Dawna Friesen is half decent, when she's there. When she's not, we have to suffer through the egotistical, "I'm better than you!" Robin Gill. So...all things considered, I definitely have no Canadian TV news program to watch now. I'm finding myself turning more and more to either BBC World News (as long it's not David Eades or Jason Menendez hosting), Al Jazeera (the gold standard in TV news these days) and my weekly investigative journalism fix from Sharyl Attkisson on her syndicated Full Measure program. RT and RT USA are also a decent option. CGTN is pretty good, too, but it has too many boring documentary and uninteresting opinion-style programs on at hours when I want to watch news. Surprisingly, despite being a "bleeding heart liberal," I'm really loving Fox News Channel and especially love The Ingraham Angle and Tucker Carlson Tonight - at least they actually question more and look at all sides instead of being a partisan "news tank" for the DNC!

My favourite CBC newscasts were when CBC anchors & reporters went on strike in the summer one year. They were anonymous newsroom managers and Radio Canada personalities (Radio Canada has a decent broadcast, if I knew enough French not to translate everything into English first!) who basically just...read the news. Simple stuff but I loved it and no commercials! Give me top-notch CBC anchors Karen Hawryluk (sp?) or Jacquie Perrin (if they're even still there!) or the more high profile Diane Swain over any of these goons.